Technical English I: Dentistry Worksheet no.

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Stefany Farías

Name:____________________________________________________ Date:______________________

Activity 1: Read about the history of Dentistry then answer in full the questions provided. Highlight
the unknown words.
Dentistry, the profession concerned with the
prevention and treatment of oral disease, including
diseases of the teeth and supporting structures and
diseases of the soft tissues of the mouth. Dentistry
also encompasses the treatment and correction of
malformation of the jaws, misalignment of the teeth,
and birth anomalies of the oral cavity such as cleft
palate. In addition to general practice, dentistry
includes many specialties and subspecialties,
including orthodontics and
dental orthopedics, pediatric
dentistry, periodontics, prosthodontics, oral and
maxillofacial surgery, oral and
maxillofacial pathology, endodontics, public health
dentistry, and oral and maxillofacial radiology.
History of dentistry
Decay of human teeth is as old as mankind. Even in the most
ancient of times the human species was cursed with toothache.
One of the first records of dental disease is found on Sumerian
clay tablets (5000 BC); it states that toothache is caused by
small worms that live within the tooth. Dentistry as an
independent specialty had its beginnings in ancient Egypt;
inscriptions on tombstones erected in about 3000 BC indicate
that among medical specialists there were tooth doctors. There
is no evidence, however, that they performed any kind of
conservative or restorative dentistry, but we know that the
Etruscans were replacing missing teeth with a kind of
bridgework as early as 700 BC. One of the oldest medical
works containing references to dentistry is the Chinese Canon of
Medicine, which is reputed to have been written about 2700
BC. In about 400 BC, the Greek physician Hippocrates
St. Apollonia - patron saint of described the function and sequence of eruption of teeth. In his
toothache sufferers studies of natural history in the 4th century BC, the Greek
philosopher Aristotle investigated the comparative anatomy of
the human dentition.
Unfortunately, he had many curious views, such as the one stating that men had more teeth than
women. It was not until Renaissance that many of these ideas were corrected. In the 1" century AD,
the Roman encyclopedist Aulus Cornelius Celsus discussed dental diseases. In his book, we find
recommendations on the relief of toothache and the importance of oral hygiene. Also the Talmud
contains specific rules for the hygiene of the oral cavity. The Greek physician Galen operated
successfully on harelip in Rome during the 2" century. He spoke of the use of a file in removing
decayed portions of a tooth. He was the first writer to discuss the dental nerves. In addition to
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treatment of oral diseases and performing extractions, the Romans were skilled in restoring carious
teeth with gold crowns, and in replacing missing teeth with fixed bridgework. Scrapion, an Arabian
physician who lived in the 10th century, accurately described the number of roots of the teeth. He
stated that upper molars needed three roots to hold them firm because of their hanging position.
Oral hygiene started a new chapter with the invention of a toothbrush by a Chinese dentist in 1498.
The most important book on dental anatomy was Libellus de Dentibus (Pamphlet on Teeth, 1563),
written by the Italian anatomist Bartolomeo Eustacheo, who studied the phenomenon of the first
and second dentition. French dentist Pierre Fauchard is known as the founder of modern dentistry
and the author of The Surgeon Dentist (1728) establishing dentistry as a separate branch of
medicine. He is credited with being the first to use the term caries, and to reject the idea that caries
was caused by "worms". In 1771, the British surgeon John Hunter published his Natural History of
Human Teeth which forms the foundation of all modern texts on the anatomy of the jaws and
teeth. He reformed teeth classification and named respective teeth as the incisors, cuspids, bicuspids
and molars.
Organized dentistry began in the USA in 1840 with the
founding of the first dental school in the world, The
Baltimore College of Dental Surgery. In 1844, Horace
Wells, an American dentist, was the first to use nitrous
oxide for the relief of pain during tooth extraction.
Greene Vardiman Black - called «the grand old man of
dentistry» - introduced his classification of cavities and
described the physical properties of enamel. He
researched cavity preparation and the method of
correctly inserting and making gold and amalgam
The Baltimore College of Dental fillings. These improvements were also made possible
Surgery by the introduction of the dental engine in the 1870's. A
certain Dr Kells of New Orleans is credited with hiring
the first dental surgery assistant in 1885. In 1935,
polymerized acrylic resin was introduced as a base for
artificial teeth. Later developments include: the use of
diamond burs for the preparation of cavities and
surfaces, the use of water-cooled drills to reduce heat
and pain, the development of stronger and lighter
materials for dentures and fillings, experiments to
anchor plastic teeth in jawbones by the use of implants,
and the use of lasers in cavity preparation. Today,
computers have found their use in dental surgeries in
practically every aspect of dentistry.

Greene Vardiman Black

In 1776. Paul Revere performed the Prst recorded case
of military forensic identification on the remains of Maj.
Gen. Joseph Warren at Bunker Hilt about ten months
after Warren’s death in that famous battle.
➢ Knowledge Zone
During the American Civil War, large numbers of potential recruits were turned away
because they did not have six opposing upper and lower front teeth to bite off the end of
powder cartridges used with muzzle-loaded weapons.
The most frequent position in which extractions were performed by itinerant tooth
drawers in the past was the one with the patient sitting on the floor.
Toothache sufferers can pray for relief to their patron saint, St. Apollonia, who holds this
honour. In AD 249, caught and imprisoned by the Romans, she endured the extraction of
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 her teeth when she refused to renounce her Christianity. Despite the pain, she prayed that
anyone who invoked her name should receive relief from toothache.
In the 18th century, hippopotamus ivory used to be the most favoured material for a
denture base.
The National Museum of Dentistry in Baltimore presents dentistry in popular culture,
displaying, for example, old television commercials and Hollywood film clips starring,
among others, Charlie Chaplin, as dentists. George Washington's teeth, all four sets of
dentures which consisted of wooden pegs that held the ivory pieces together, and a
toothbrush collection are some of the many items on display. There is the "Famous Smile"
exhibit, which allows people to try to guess which famous face belongs to each smile. There
are also four silk-screened images by Andy Warhol of St. Apollonia.
In the 18th and 19th centuries human teeth were used in dentures. To meet the demand
"tooth harvesters" followed armies and after battles removed all teeth from soldiers who
had been killed. The biggest supply was provided by the battle of Waterloo and so such
teeth were often called "Waterloo teeth". Similarly, the American Civil War proved to be
another rich source of teeth. In times of peace dentists had to rely on grave robbers.

Tooth extraction George Washington’s Teeth

During World War II the American Army Dental Corps completed the following procedures:
16,231,264 extractions, 69,546,560 restorations, and 579,473 full dentures. Twenty dental
officers were killed by enemy action and ten died in captivity.

Dr C. Edmund Kells of New Orleans was a dental innovator and

inventor. He was the first to run a drill and light for his operatory
powered by electricity coming from the street current. He held
patents for the use of compressed air in dental operations. He
promoted restoring the pulpless tooth and developed instruments
for measuring and filling root canals. He is also given credit for
taking the first dental radiograph on a live patient. The
procedure took 15 minutes of exposure and required the
fabrication of intra-oral-sized film. Another vital contribution was
the electric suction pump.

1) How was toothache caused according to 2) What were the romans skilled at
ancient civilizations? regarding dentistry?

3) What does a harelip consist of? Who was 4) When and where was found the first
the first person in operate one? dental school in the world?

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 5) Why Pierre Fauchard is known as the 6) Which were the contributions of Greene
father of modern dentistry? Vardiman Black?

7) What’s the contribution of John hunter 8) What’s nitrous oxide? Who was the first
to the dentistry area? person to use it?

Language focus
Collocations: It refers to a group of two or more words that usually go together.
For example CAVITY can be modified by an adjective DEEP (a deep cavity) or can modify the word
PREPARATION (cavity preparation = the preparation of the cavity). Experiment with PAIN,
TOOTH, GOLD.

Activity 3:
Make as many appropriate collocations as you can by using the words listed below.

• restorative • dentition • fixed • resin • gold • burs • preparation • pain • species disease •
missing • eruption • relief • classification • human • tooth bridgework • anatomy • cavity •
extraction • diamond comparative • oral • molars • crowns

Pain Tooth Gold

1) 1) 1)
2) 2) 2)
3) 3) 3)
4) 4) 4)
5) 5) 5)
6) 6) 6)
7) 7) 7)
8) 8) 8)
9) 9) 9)
10) 10) 10)
11) 11) 11)
12) 12) 12)
13) 13) 13)
14) 14) 14)